Oil-tank.



7 No. 890,756. 'PATENTED JUNE 16, 1908. R. K. BRUND'AGE. 1

OIL TANK.

APPLIOATION FILED JULY 30, 1906.

Wrmugw 17206 2 0%. 2 ii/v air/247% ROBERT K. BRUNDAGE, OF FARMERSVILLE,CALIFORNIA.

OIL-TANK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 16, 1908.

Application filed July so, 1906. Serial no. 328,370.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT K. BRUN- DAGE, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residin at Farmersville, in the county of Tulare and Stateof-California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Oil-Tanks.of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide means-for the removal of watercontained in crude oil and also the sand and sediment therein and isuseful particularly in connection with the oil tank indicator covered bya patent issued to T. J. Brundage and Rob ert Brundage, which patent isnumbered l5 S09,542 issued by the United States Patent Office on the Qthday of January, 1906. In the practical use of the'device described insaid patent it is found, owing to the large quantity of sand and othersubstances carried in crude petroleum, that the float valve in thedevice shown and described therein soon becomes inoperative owing to thelodgment of quantities of sand and sediment on the valve seat and I haveprovided means which are hereinafter shown and described by which theforeign substances in crude petroleum are removed therefrom and alsoprovides for the removal of water, large quantities of which is oftencarried in crude petroleum, which should be removed therefrom.

The accompanying drawing is acentral vertical section of an Oll tankwith crude petroleum therein having on the bottom thereof myimprovementsfor accom lishing the urposes above stated, some of t eparts of: t e same being shown in elevation.

In the drawin s A is an oil tank with crude oil or etroleum therein.Mounted on the side t ereof is the oil indicator tube C having on thebottom thereof a ball valve, the casing surrounding which forms achamber D which I have termed for convenience the brine chamber. In thischamber is a float valve E adapted to float on the brine F and below thepetroleum B therein. This con- -struction is exactly identical with thatshown in the patent above referred to except that the top of the chamberD herein does not open into and communicate directly with the oil in theoil tank as is the case in the device described in saidpatent, otherwiseit is exactly similar and works in the same way. Water sli htlyimpregnated with salt and slightly colored is turned into the indicatortube (.3 upon the removal therefrom of the cap 0 on the top of theindito a point on a level with the bottom of the connecting pipe G whichwill be plainly indicated through the glass tube as at M. The

.tank is now ready to befilled with petroleum or crude oil. The crudeoil will enter the top of the sand receptacle or chamber H from the oiltank, then into the brine chamber D and fill it up. A wire screenprojects over the entrance to the ipe G and prevents the ball E fromclosing t e opening into the pipe G while li uid is passingtherethrough, it will also fill t e valve chamber J which I have termedthe water chamber. ,Whatever sand may be held in suspension-in the oiltank will naturally gravitate to the bottom and pass into the sandchamber H and lodge on the bottom thereof as shown in the drawin thesand therein beingwindicated by the. etter L. This sand chamber orreceptacle is provided on the bottom thereof with a screw cap H upon theremoval :of which the contents of the chamber will pass out. It isunnecessary usually to remove this sand or debris except when the oil'tank is em ty, but in a construction where it should become necessary toremove the sand while there is oil in the oil tank a closure for theconnection leading out of the tank into the sand chamber can be provided.to close the opening from the oil .tank into the sand receptacle whenthe cap 'Hlis to be removed. To prevent the sand which gravitates downand settles on the bottom of cator tube until the brine in, the valverises connecting chamber as it (passes down I have provided that theinwar y projecting ends of the connecting pipes G and I drop downwardly.I

It will be seen in the drawing that the.connecting pipe I is below thelevel of the connecting pipe G, the purpose of which is to permit t ewater wh1ch will accumulate in thesand rece tacle (this Water alwaysremains at the ottom of the etroleum) to pass into the water chamber andnot into water to unseat the valve (which will take place when anyconsiderable quantity of water accumulates therein owing to the factthat the valve has less specific" gravity than water) the valve willbecome unseated and the Water will pass out. It thereby provides meansto automatically let whatever water accumulated in the bottom of thechamber pass out, closing immediately when the water passes therefrom. Ihave vided this ball valve with a ball at each end, the pur ose of whichis to reliably unseat the valve in case the same should have a tendencyto adhere to its seat in the bottom of the chamber and thereby alwaysprovide an opening for. the passage of water out of the c amber andalways revent the passage of oil therefrom. This dhplex valve is so.constructed or made of such material that the lower ball has a greaterspecific gravity than oil and less than that of water while the upperball and the connection between these two balls is approximately of thesame specific gravity as oil. It will be seen that the upper ball andthe connection therewith be ing of the same specific gravity as oil willnot tend to unseat the lower ball when they are immersed in oil but incase the water should rise inthe valve chamber above the lower ball thebuoyancy of the connection and the upper ball to ether with the buoyancyof the lower ball will be such that it will always unv seat the lowerball and permit the water to run out.

In order to ascertain whether the water chamber J is filled with oil orwater I have glaced in the side thereof a discharge cock by means ofwhich I can ascertain whether prooil or water is in the valve chamber.This is to practically test the o )eration of the valve N, althoughlittle trou le is occasioned in this regard owing to the duplexcharacter of the valve, being provided with extra lilting power toalways unseat itself when an unusual quantity of water is contained inthe chamber.

Having described my invention what I claim is:

1. The herein described means to separate the sand, sediment and waterfrom crude oil, comprising a tank having on the bottom thereof asandreceptacle, the said sand reeeptacle being in open communication withthe oil tank; a water chamber below the oil tank and connected with thesand chamber, the said water chamber being provided with a ball valvehaving less specific gravity than water and a greater specific gravitythan oil.

2. In an apparatus of the character herein described, a water chambercommunicating with the oil chamber and being provided with a duplex ballvalve, one ball of which has a less specific gravity than water and morethan oil, the other ball valve having the same specific gravity as oil.

3. In an apparatus of the kind described, an oil tank, a sand chamber inopen communication with the tank, a water chamber communicating with thesand chamber, and a valve in said water chamber operative by the flow ofwater into the chamber to empty it.

, 4. In an apparatus of the kind described, an oil chamber, a sandreceptacle opening into the oil chamber, a water-chamber com municatingwith the sand receptacle by means of a pipe, said pipe extending intothe sand receptacle and being downwardly bent therein, and a gravityvalve in the water chamber substantially for the purpose set 'forth.

In witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my namethis 23rd day of July, 1906.

ROBERT K. BRUNDAGE.

Witnesses:

HENRY T. HAZARD, E. E. IIARPIIAM.

